Questions and comments!

Sally...We leave St. Pete on Tuesday by speed train.  Then we spend Wednesday and Thursday finishing up in Moscow,  and leave for home Friday.  Yay!!!  Heather...good thinking on the toy.  Decided against it which makes you like my financial advisor, saved me $50!  Figured out today she just needs a straw to play with anyway!  Will post more later after dinner:) 

See What I'm Wearing Today:)

I don't like to stand still, so this is the best you're getting full length!

Uh oh, is that Daddy guy coming?

Nope, he's in the shower.  I'll continue playing with Mommy!

Day 2 as a Culley

We continued to get to know each other today.  Sofia did a lot of tossing and turning last night, but never cried.  She ended up sleeping until 10am so we got a late start.  We also wanted to skype with our big girls so we hung around the room for that.  By then it was lunch and nap time for Sof.  Just after she got up from her nap we got a skype call from my class!  It was so cute!  They are having pajama day at school so they all sat around the computer in their jammies.  I could have spent the whole day skyping to stay connected to home.  I'm so done here!  I really love this city and it's great to just focus on Sofia, but the idea of being home in my own routine trumps all that right now!  It's not about me though...so on to Sofie!  She loves her books.  Especially "Good Night Moon" and a color book I bought her.  She has already picked up on a couple animal sounds, and she repeats everything I say.  This girl is so ready to talk!  In fact I fear once she learns she will never stop!  She's a smart cookie though!  Delayed...but eager to catch up:)   

This evening we decided it was time to get out and face the world.  She was NOT happy about that idea.  She likes the comfort of our room, and even then she doesn't want Mark in it!  But she's a Culley now so she's gotta figure it out.  I bundled her up, stapped her in the stroller, and headed out.  She cried until we got to the street, and then she started looking around.  We headed to the mall(where else?).  She ended up doing great!  We ate in the food court and did a little shopping.  She sat in the highchair, rode in the stroller, and even walked a bit.  All big steps for her! 

I love how she drinks!

Eating some soup:)

This special face is reserved just for Mark...everytime he so much as looks at her!

See the face?  Daddy's taking the picture.  Before that she was in heaven in the shoe store.  Mommy was too until she saw every shoe was $120 and up:(

Ready to go home!

We got back to the room and had a bath, warm milk, and bed.  I already tell she's sleeping more soundly tonight!  Tomorrow we will go out walking to the flea market!



Happy Birthday Lexie Lu!!!

Happy Birthday Lexie!  You are 9!  When did you get that big????  Daddy and I love you so so so much!  We miss you and can't wait to celebrate your birthday big time!!!  I just know Sofie is going to LOVE birthday cake!  We will think of you every minute today:)

Our morning started like this....

If you wanna eat kid, this is your guy(tough love adoption style)

See, he's not that bad!  After eating Sofie decided she was comfortable on Daddy's lap, so she stayed and watched TV and had a coffee cup of water:)

Then the fun part...time to get dressed!  What to wear?  Bad angle on the picture but you can still see the cuteness! 

Now I'm just waiting an hour to skype with my big girls!  Talked to my biggest girl last night and miss her soooo much.  Can't wait to SEE both of them!  



A Good Day

This afternoon Mark had to go and get Sofia's passport and the train tickets to Moscow.  Luckily both parents aren't required to go because it took him from 3:30-7:30!  Sofie and I had a great time hanging out in the room though!  Unfortunately, I have to be honest and say she totally perked up when Mark left.  She is terrified of him.  It's a bummer, but very common and not unexpected.  Tomorrow we will make sure all her pleasure comes from him(meaning food!).  She needs to see him as the giver of good things.  It will come in time I'm not worried.  In the mean time, her and I and her shoes are happy!  She LOVES her shoes...especially her twinkle toes!  The guadier the better!  She spent much of the afternoon lining them up, trying them on, and carrying them around.

Shoes and a cell phone, I told you she's my girl!

How beautiful is that face?

Mom!  Put the camera down and put this shoe on me!

After she ate some dinner I gave her bath.  I expected there to be tears with that.  It was not too bad, but she didn't like it.  We did it fast and she made it through fairly untraumatized.  She was so cuddly in her jammies!  We made some progress with her eating already.  I gave her a small handfull of snacks in a bowl about every hour(yeah, I know, I'm already off the schedule).  At first she would put literally every single one in her mouth at the same time.  By bed tonight she took her time and ate one at a time.  Now, it was dried fruit that looks similiar to styrofoam, so I don't think she liked it that well, but she still did good!  She drank a small glass of warmed milk and really enjoyed that.  By the way, she drinks from a sippy cup WITH the lid OFF!  She's a pro at cups and I don't know if she'll ever have the patience to go back to a sippy.  Mark came back while she was having her bedtime snack sitting on my lap.  She was already tired and not playful so it wasn't great timing.  She just stared at him and scowled.  If looks could kill he'd be a goner.  Oh well, little by little.  She already broadened her comfort zone today.  She was totally happy and playful in the room, so I walked down to the lobby to heat her dinner up and get a different bed for her.  Of course there was a man in the elevator and that threw her right off.  She was terrified again.  Once we returned to the room she was her happy self again.  But then she kept grabbing my hand and leading me to the door.  I would open the door and she'd look and start to whimper and I'd have to close it again.  At one point she even walked out into the hallway and checked it out.  Baby steps...Now she's sleeping soundly in her big girl bed.  Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

All fresh and clean in her footy pajamas AND her Sketchers!

Eating her snack so carefully:)

Sleep tight sweet girl...

   

So many firsts, in so little time...

First time leaving the security of all she knows...

First time in a coat and hat that are HERS...

First time with a Mommy and a Daddy...

First time waiting for a car to go somewhere...

First time in a car...

First sleep in Mommy's arms...

First Gerber toddler meal...

First nap with her new family...

If I had to sum up the last 3 hours, I would say heartbreaking.  Sofia is 2 1/2.  Old enough to not trust us just because we meet her needs, but yet not old enough to see the big picture.  She was terrified.  It was heartbreaking.  She's happy at the baby home, it's all she knows.  I'm smiling in all the pictures, but all of us had tears!  Her cry was so sad, so mournful.  When you have a baby and they put the baby in your arms for the first time, they immediately calm down.  They know your voice, they know your smell.  Everything about us is unfamiliar to Sofia.  She does not feel comforted by us.  The whole process was not more than an hour.  we gave the head doctor(pictured above) her new clothes.  Then while she went to change her our translator went over Sofia's schedule with us.  Stick to the schedule!  It's what she knows!  No problem...how long do think it will take us American's to screw this kid up?  I'm thinking of trying to send Adrienne and Alexa to the baby home on an exchange program, if they could get on this schedule it would be smooth sailing at the Culley house!  Of course the schedule doesn't account for dance and gymnastics:)  They finally brought Sofia to us with her new clothes on, and she immediately started to cry.  She always cries, but this was different.  She totally sensed that something was going on.  We love the head doctor there.  Sweetest woman, and genuinely happy to see these children go to loving homes.  We wanted a picture of Sofia with her, so when I handed her over Sofia held on to her for dear life.  I wanted to say, "I will take you too!  We have a nice finished basement you can stay in!".  But alas, we had to leave the doctor behind and venture out into the world on our own.  Sofia cried a slow steady cry while waiting for the car and in the car.  She fell asleep about 5 minutes away from the hotel.  When we got to hotel she cried and cried.  Not temper tantrum I'm 2 and mad cry, but what is going on I'm scared cry.  Rip my heart out because I can't explain it to you cry.  Finally she showed some interest in a snack so I gave her some little puff things.  Her face lit up a little with those.  I think she remembered the can from our last visit.  In the meantime Mark went down to the lobby to find a microwave and heat up an actual meal.  The food thing is so hard.  She inhales what you give her, and you have to use your judgement to stop her, but it was her first pleasure since being with us and I just wanted to keep giving her food!  After she ate she got interested in her books and puzzles and played for a little while.  Mark then went out to get us some lunch!  I decided it was naptime.  Just as I thought, she was terrified of the crib.  We'll have to get that taken out right away and a bed brought in.  I snuggled with her awhile in the chair.  She is a thumb sucker!  Just like my other two:)  So cute!  I laid her on the bed and rubbed her back and she went to sleep quite easily.  I really wanted to hold her and let her sleep in my arms, but my experienced Mommy brain kicked in and said no.  She needs to go to sleep on the bed, wake up on the bed, and realize she is just fine.  Mission accomplished.  No bad habits started yet!  Hoping she will wake up rested and happy and ready to give us a chance:)  I will try to post later after she goes to bed!         

Thoughts, Ponderings, and Observations

The women here are beautiful and well dressed.  To add insult to injury, there was a Givenchy convention in our hotel this morning.  I might as well have been wearing flannel pajamas in the lobby compared to these women!  When you go to the mall there is a huge variety of stores also.  So many different women's styles to choose from.  I could do some serious damage shopping here!  The shoes are amazing!  Today we went into a children's toy store and found a Fisher Price play phone that speaks Russian when you push the buttons.  We immediately loved the idea of that!  Then we realized it was $53.  You can buy the same toy at Target for $7.99!  We are still debating on whether to go back for it.  Mark is sold, and I'm thinking all those toys at my house end up broken and in the garbage(not necessarily in that order).  I admit it would be really cool to have, especially if it we could keep it for years to come.  Oh well, I have 6 days to ponder that one.  There is no diet pop, it's all called "light".  I like that.  Diet is such a negative term!  At the mall you can only go up escalators and then you have to walk down the steps.  Maybe that's why there's no diet.  If you watch CNN day in and day out pretty soon you think the world is ending.  I've realized the purpose for Jersey Shore is to distract you from real issues.  I prefer MTV's version of the "The Situation".  The situation here is that we will be getting S in the morning.  Going to bed praying her transition is smooth and not too tramatic for her(or us)!